Shirajiv Sirimane
Since the ending of the war five years ago, the Overall market has grown by 4,570 points or 240%, said Chairman, Securities and Exchange Commission, (SEC) Dr. Nalaka Godahewa.
“After several years of turbulence in the market, we have now entered a steady phase of growth in our capital market,” he said in the opening remarks at the ‘Symposium on the Role of Independent Directors.”
“The last 24 months has been a busy period for the SEC. The priorities shifting from crisis management to strategic market development. The main focus in 2013 was the launch of the 10 point project initiatives and their implementation. We are very much on target on all these initiatives. While there is some more work to be done to complete the tasks already undertaken, we are now in a position to think beyond the 10 point project initiatives. We need to identify a new set of priorities in our efforts to make the capital market a key contributor to our economy.”
“We like to see our market being upgraded from frontier market status to emerging market status at the earliest possible date. We like to see more companies identifying the capital market as a channel to raise funds to support their long term investment needs. We like to see our market growing in value and quality. We like to see ‘market cap to GDP ratio’ of at least 40% within the next 3-4 years.”
To achieve these objectives, the investor confidence in our capital market becomes a key factor. The purpose of corporate governance is to facilitate effective entrepreneurial and prudent management that can deliver long term success of the company.
“Some of the independent directors seem to have been appointed only to accommodate regulatory requirements, but their contributions at Board level seem to be influenced by their appointing authorities. This limitation we observe in certain companies could be largely due to the fact that no one has made an effort so far to highlight the issue. We believe that this situation can easily be corrected through better communication and engagement.”
“In USA for example, between 1950 and 2005, the composition of large public company Boards dramatically shifted towards independent directors, from approximately 20% to 75% independents. In Sri Lanka, the code of best practices on corporate governance advocates at least 1/3 rd of the board to be independent directors.”
“We would like all independent directors of Sri Lankan companies to fully understand and appreciate their role. The ordinary shareholder looks up to the independent directors to bring about the right balance at the Board level.”
www.dailynews.lk
Since the ending of the war five years ago, the Overall market has grown by 4,570 points or 240%, said Chairman, Securities and Exchange Commission, (SEC) Dr. Nalaka Godahewa.
“After several years of turbulence in the market, we have now entered a steady phase of growth in our capital market,” he said in the opening remarks at the ‘Symposium on the Role of Independent Directors.”
“The last 24 months has been a busy period for the SEC. The priorities shifting from crisis management to strategic market development. The main focus in 2013 was the launch of the 10 point project initiatives and their implementation. We are very much on target on all these initiatives. While there is some more work to be done to complete the tasks already undertaken, we are now in a position to think beyond the 10 point project initiatives. We need to identify a new set of priorities in our efforts to make the capital market a key contributor to our economy.”
“We like to see our market being upgraded from frontier market status to emerging market status at the earliest possible date. We like to see more companies identifying the capital market as a channel to raise funds to support their long term investment needs. We like to see our market growing in value and quality. We like to see ‘market cap to GDP ratio’ of at least 40% within the next 3-4 years.”
To achieve these objectives, the investor confidence in our capital market becomes a key factor. The purpose of corporate governance is to facilitate effective entrepreneurial and prudent management that can deliver long term success of the company.
“Some of the independent directors seem to have been appointed only to accommodate regulatory requirements, but their contributions at Board level seem to be influenced by their appointing authorities. This limitation we observe in certain companies could be largely due to the fact that no one has made an effort so far to highlight the issue. We believe that this situation can easily be corrected through better communication and engagement.”
“In USA for example, between 1950 and 2005, the composition of large public company Boards dramatically shifted towards independent directors, from approximately 20% to 75% independents. In Sri Lanka, the code of best practices on corporate governance advocates at least 1/3 rd of the board to be independent directors.”
“We would like all independent directors of Sri Lankan companies to fully understand and appreciate their role. The ordinary shareholder looks up to the independent directors to bring about the right balance at the Board level.”
www.dailynews.lk
No comments:
Post a Comment